17:20 IST:
A 57-run partnership between Rahul and Nitish then kept the innings afloat for India, with the former scoring a fluent and valiant century as well. And when India needed that final act of acceleration, KL Rahul switched the gears in the final few overs and propelled India to a rather respectable total of 284. Honestly, at one stage, it didn’t look achievable at all. Bowling-wise, New Zealand were not at all poor given how inexperienced this bowling lineup may look on paper. If we look at the distribution, interestingly, all the pacers conceded more than run-a-ball, but accounted for the most wickets. Whereas spinners, in their combined effort of 23 overs, were miserly, giving away only 89 runs, sharing just two scalps.
